This paper analyses trends in business dynamism across 18 countries and 22 industries over the last two decades, using highly representative comparable data. It finds that declines in business dynamism, pervasive in many countries, are driven by dynamics occurring at a disaggregated sectoral...

We study growth dynamics of firms before and during the financial crisis. We find that firms born during the recession display lower growth overtime in capital, employment and revenue, despite being more productive at entry than those born in normal times. We show that this pattern can be...

The report provides an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the economic and social impact of the Italian policy framework for innovative start-ups, also known as the “Start-up Act”, first introduced by the Decree-law 179 in 2012. The policy aims at creating a more favourable...

We estimate the effects of a simplification in the bureaucratic regulation for doing business on firm demographics in Italy, where a 2011 legislation reform required all municipalities to institute a one-stop shop for doing business. We use data for all Italian firms active in private...

We show that the credit crunch of 2007-2013 favoured the adoption by startups of more efficient, intangible-intensive technologies. Using data for the universe of Italian corporations, we document that the cohorts of firms born during the crisis significantly increased their share of intangible...